Welcome to the Jungle
by ilovetvalot
Summary: Derek Morgan welcomes Ashley Seaver to the Unit in his own unique way. This is an example for the Theme Song Challenge on Chit Chat on Author's Corner.


_**Author's Note: Hello, readers. Just a brief note for you all today. For those interested, we have a new challenge up at "Chit Chat on Author's Corner". Sign-ups for our theme song challenge run through May 14, 2011. The rules are simple. Tell us your favorite character about which to write, the character you'd like to receive a story about AND what you envision that character's theme song being. We think it'll be a lot of fun and hope to see all of you there! All our best!**_

_**I wrote this story to illustrate the challenge. I hope ya'll enjoy it. Song: Welcome to the Jungle by Guns n Roses.**_

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**Welcome To the Jungle**

He'd been prepared to dislike her.

Unfair, yes. But it was a sad, but all too true, fact.

And he was just self-aware enough to realize it.

She was young and inexperienced, and yet she had a past that made his look tame by comparison. And despite it all, she was entirely too innocent and open to face the rigors this job demanded of each of them.

Sure, he'd had similar reservations about a team member in the past. Hell, Dr. Spencer Reid had been the little brother he'd never wanted. Like Seaver, Reid's past was colorful. A splitsville dad and a schizo mom were no match for a serial killer sire, however.

Besides that, he'd already been blessed with two sisters. And he'd been trying to shake their influence for years. Adding another chick to the mix was not exactly what the doctor ordered.

Grimacing as he heard her thready voice begin to rise, he shook his head in defeat.

"Just tell me why you did it?" he heard her ask frantically as the local Sheriff shuffled the unsub toward his waiting squad car. "There has to be a reason! What is it?"

Sighing heavily, he silently cursed David Rossi and his current absence. Seaver was his protégée. Rossi was the one sponsoring her on their team. Not him. Not in this lifetime.

The last person he'd sponsored had been Prentiss, and everybody on the team knew how that had ended.

"Wait!" Ashley yelled to the uniformed officer as he began to close the sedan's door. "I'm not finished!"

"Shit!" Morgan muttered to himself as he watched Ashley grab the older officer's arm, stalling his movement. Rossi was on a book tour. Reid was off somewhere doing God only knew what. And Hotch...luckily for Seaver, was still inside processing the scene. If he saw this, he'd pull rank and submit the young agent for a psych eval ASAP.

Problem was, Seaver wasn't nuts. Not in the traditional sense. She was just a novice with a history she couldn't understand.

Fuck, but he hated playing the White Knight for anybody but his Baby Girl. But Seaver was treading dangerously close to the edge as she stood arguing with the local LEO charged with transporting the perp to the station.

"Seaver!" Morgan yelled suddenly, his voice carrying through the air.

Ignoring Morgan, Ashley turned back to the criminal now grinning coldly up into her face. "Just tell me why you did it," she almost begged, this man's crimes too much like her father's for her to simply let him escape without an explanation.

"Because I could."

The words echoed in Seaver's ears as the Sheriff slammed the car door closed. Staring blankly at the monster that had extinguished the lives of twenty-two women, she barely felt Morgan's hand surround her arm, tugging her backward.

"Because I could," Seaver repeated in disbelief. Glancing up at Morgan's face, illuminated by the flashing red and blue lights surrounding them, she whispered, "Did you hear that?"

Barely resisting the urge to bark at her, Morgan nodded jerkily. "I heard, Youngster," he replied tersely, dragging her toward the mostly deserted parking lot of the warehouse they'd found the unsub hiding inside. "Let's go. You need some air."

"Air?" Ashley asked bitterly. "I need answers," she spat, pulling away from Morgan's grip on her.

Shaking his head, Derek's lips tightened as he gently pushed her against one of the SUV's dotting the lot. "You don't get it, do you? You're never gonna get the answer you're searching for, Seaver. Not here. Not doing this job. If that's why you joined the Bureau, you went the wrong route."

"Why?" Ashley asked, her question a plea as she searched his dark face for a sign.

"Because," Derek answered flatly, narrowing his eyes as he glared down at her, "no answer any of these whack jobs give you is ever gonna make sense. What they do doesn't make sense, Ash. For some, it's a compulsion. For others, it's because somewhere along the way, they got fucked in the head. But for most, it's because they're sub-human. At any rate, kid, you're gonna have to find a way to deal."

"...a way not to let it affect me?" Ashley asked, challenge in her voice. "How do I do that?" she bit out.

"I didn't say that. The day this job doesn't affect you, you need to get the hell out. That means you're becoming too much like the creatures whose asses we hunt. I said you needed to find a way to deal."

"To deal," she repeated doubtfully, snorting softly.

"Yeah, girl, to deal. For me, it's buying rundown houses and going home and knocking down the walls in 'em. For Garcia, it's going on those freaking cyberquests. For Reid, it's burying himself in all that sci-fi bullshit he's constantly spouting about. For Rossi, it's writing. For Hotch, it's his son. We've all got something that takes us away from the pain of this crap. You," he ordered, nearly jabbing her in the nose with his finger, "need to find whatever that thing is before you finally lose it completely, Seaver. If you can't do that, you need to find something else to do with your time because you won't be out here with us."

Swallowing, Ashley stared into Derek Morgan's chocolate colored eyes. "It's just...hard," she choked out. "His crimes were so much like my father's. Twenty-two women, Morgan," she said, shaking her head as she turned to stare into the blackened night. "And for what?"

Actually, it was probably closer to thirty unfortunate ladies, Derek thought grimly, but he didn't have the heart to share that information with her. The woman was in obvious pain, and not even he was a big enough dick to compound it. "Look, Seaver," he murmured, taking a half step closer, "I know all this is personal to you. It'd have to be, but you've gotta look past it. Or use it to help catch these assholes. Otherwise, your past is gonna drive you over the edge. You're too good an agent with too much promise to allow that to happen, okay?"

Nodding, Ashley inhaled deeply. "Thank you, Agent Morgan."

Shoulder bumping her, Derek winked. "Welcome to the jungle, Baby."

_**Finis**_


End file.
